Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: A call from Curia, in reply to Trevor Nicholls,
Self censorship. Finest kind.
More like I'm sure Russell has had more than enough reasons to be pissed in my general direction over the years, without my risking landing him in a tiresome correspondence with the Electoral wallahs.
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Hard News: A call from Curia, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
[Redacted -- posted after midnight and not sure that this isn't verboten under election rules]
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Hard News: A call from Curia, in reply to Sacha,
Strong, guaranteed investment in public broadcasting and firmer regulation of ‘journalism’ is needed.
That's a debate for another time, but please be very careful what you wish for because those regulators aren't necessarily terribly nice enlightened people like us.
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Hard News: A call from Curia, in reply to Amanda Wreckonwith,
There appears to be a simple way for Labour or the Greens to reduce the ability for polling companies to conduct polls that the media can rely upon to further whatever agenda they are pushing. If they were to publicly instruct their voter base to ALWAYS say that they will vote for National – any subsequent poll will have a margin of error that makes it irrelevant.
Would that include Labour and the Greens own internal pollsters and robo-diallers there Amanda? Far be it from me to disturb a good conspiracy theory, but one of the things I don't mind about living in one of the least competitive electorates in the country is the lack of political spam.
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Hard News: Vision and dumbassery, in reply to mark taslov,
He had a read through what I wrote and told me it was the tip of the iceberg and basically spun off the same kind of line as Michael Hadyn had that you just need to embrace it because Government surveillance of NZ citizenry has been going on for ages, mass surveillance for over a decade, and that anyone with any gumption already knows this to be true
Which is perfectly true, up to a point but not as far as some people seem determined to push it. There is such a thing as keeping the State in its place, and I would strenuously argue that place is reading my mail only under extreme, specific and strictly circumscribed conditions.
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Hard News: Time to Vote, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Junta is simply the Spanish word for council. See “La Junta de Andalucía” which is the perfectly vote-o-cratic devolved government of Andalucia.
I'm perfectly well aware of that, Rich. In other news, "negro" means black in both Spanish and Portugese, "bitch" is a perfectly acceptable term for a female dog, "faggot" is an archaic term for a bundle of small sticks and I'd still be careful about how I use all of them in general conversation because they also have stunningly offensive connotations. If you're comfortable with people comparing the government of this country to a military dictatorship, that's your look out. I think in the general spirit of amity our host requested, I'll just agree to disagree and leave it there.
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Hard News: Time to Vote, in reply to Luke Williamson,
My heartfelt best wishes to anyone looking to oust the current junta and roll on a final result – I’m exhausted from the fretting.
And with all due respect, Luke, I’m exhausted by anyone (left, right, don’t give the proverbial) who could actually describe any government in this country as a “junta”. Because words mean things, and it’s not that hard to find people in New Zealand who have experience of what life under real military governments. I have an acquaintance whose father… vanished during Argentina’s Dirty War. Really puts domestic partisan drama queening into perspective, as I discovered the hard (and deeply embarrasing) way.
I may or may not like the outcome, but it really helps to remember that tomorrow will see a free, fair and credible general election held without violence, intimidation or wholesale fraud (something too many people in this world can't say) and adjust the rhetorical thermostat accordingly. Don’t you think?
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So, tomorrow David and I intend to hit the local booth as close to opening as possible, go do the standard Saturday morning things (grocery shop, library run, lunch, finally clear the post-holiday housework deficit) and then we're off to a friend's for dinner under firm instructions that the table is to be a politics-free zone and the TV's not going on until 10pm.
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Hard News: Vision and dumbassery, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Actually I just think the conclusions she draws are very very obviously false
So, can you just say that without doubling down on the mental health shaming slurs? Because, frankly, it's getting as tired as a certain party's gratuitous references to Kim Dotcom's weight and nationality.
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Hard News: Vision and dumbassery, in reply to simon g,
At 9.30 am approx. Leighton Smith on Newstalk ZB tells his listeners – ringingly, emphatically – that Glenn Greenwald did not win the Pulitzer Prize. Not as a clumsy aside, but a confident declaration of fact.
His source? WhaleOil.
Which, by the bye, happens to be true if you really want to parse that particular folicle – but I think my “source” trumps Smith’s. (Columbia University maintains a comprehensive and easily accessible website for the Pulitzer Prizes. Ain't Google grand!)
The Public Service Pulitzer isn’t awarded to individuals but for “a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources, including the use of stories, editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics, videos, databases, multimedia or interactive presentations or other visual material.” So, yeah, Greenwald didn't win that Pulitzer but if he wants to bask in that particular glow I’m not churlish.